Asheville Report Card: C to NC infrastructure

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incompletes where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space. Got an idea that makes the grade? Send it to JBuchanan@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

Reader grades

A to Leicester neighbors who watch out for one another and to the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office. Recently, you reported the arrest of two men suspected of robbing a home in Leicester. That home belongs to my parents. In a great example of law enforcement and community citizens working together, the Buncombe County sheriff, armed with eyewitness information from my parents' neighbor Carter Gorman, had within a couple of hours of the robbery identified the suspects and their vehicle, and successfully retrieved all of the articles stolen from my parents' home. When I thanked Mr. Gorman for his watchful eye on the comings and goings at the house, he humbly waved it off, replying with a smile: "Oh, I'm just nosy is all." Some interesting details about how it all unfolded.

Trish Mahoney, Leicester

I to the Citizen-Times, an "Incomplete" for its June 4 Report Card item about former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman. Trying to provide cover for the Obama administration about the IRS scandals, you said, "It should also be pointed out that Shulman was a George W. Bush appointee." If that's important, then why was it not important to tell us that Shulman has contributed to the Democratic National Committee and that his wife is involved with a very political, left-wing 501(c)(4) "social welfare" group? What's actually important is what Shulman did or didn't do as IRS commissioner while the IRS was abusing conservative organizations, not who he or his wife is, but you should be ashamed of your selective reporting about him.

Bill Barley, Asheville

A to the exchange experience in Western North Carolina. My name is Li-Shiang Cheng, and I am an AYUSA international student exchange organization student. This experience has been one of the best in my life. I want to thank everyone at Roberson for supporting me. I've made many great friends and really enjoyed my school life. ROTC is the best class ever. Prom and military ball were so much fun. I want to thank my host families: James, Teresa and Gabriel Fishnick; Audrey, Alex and Anne Greene; and Grant, Heather and Elliot Hardy. They loved me and cared for me, and I feel like they are my real family. We went trick-or-treating, ate the big turkey dinner, had chocolate on Valentine's Day and hunted Easter eggs. I would have never had this opportunity if they had not volunteered to host me. If you would like to help a student know the real America, you might want to think about hosting. You can contact AYUSA representative Anne Raybon at 298-8873 or go to www.ayusa.org to learn more. I'm going back home to Taiwan soon and wanted to let everyone know how much you mean to me. I love people here, I love America, and I will never forget you.

Li-Shiang "Leo" Cheng, Arden

Staff grades

C to the state of North Carolina's infrastructure. That's the overall grade given to the Tar Heel State's schools, roads, bridges and water systems by The American Society of Civil Engineers in its 2013 Report Card. That's actually better than the national average, which is an alarming D-plus. One particularly worrisome sector in North Carolina is the state's dams, which rated a D. The Dam Safety Office regulates 3,862 structures, and 1,130 are rated as "high hazard," meaning failure could cause significant property damage or loss of life downstream. The state has no funding mechanism to repair dams, and it's estimated it would cost nearly $2 billion to rehabilitate dams across the state. Another victim of neglect are our state's public school buildings; it's estimated nearly 60 percent will need renovations over the next five years, with a price tag of $8.2 billion. Fully 10 percent of the state's students are now in mobile classrooms.

F to state Sen. Thomas Goolsby, R-Wilmington, for the complete disrespect he has shown to people he's supposed to be representing. In a commentary last week, Goolsby took on the "Moral Monday" protests in Raleigh which are decrying cuts to the state's social safety net and schools. Goolsby dubbed the protests "Moron Mondays," took shots at NAACP leaderships at the events and assailed "aging hippies," the "Loony Left" and in general presented arguments you'd expect from a middle school student. Goolsby is certainly within his right to hold differences of opinion with the protesters, but he's an elected official and, as such, is supposed to represent all of the state's citizens or at the very least not hurl a poorly crafted mosaic of insults at them.

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Asheville Report Card: C to NC infrastructure

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incompletes where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space.